- Good morning and congratulations
to the class of 2021. I would like to welcome all of you to the virtual University
of California Irvine Paul Merage School of Business
commencement ceremony. And to thank all the families and friends that have gathered this morning, to celebrate the wonderful accomplishments of the 2021 graduates. Though we were not able
to be in person this year, it is still right and fitting, that we celebrate this
tremendous accomplishment that makes this day special. To the class of 21, well done. You officially completed your
journey with the Merage School and can now join our alumni community of over 12,000 individuals spread across the United States
and in over 36 countries. You have excelled and thrived under what can only be described as extraordinary circumstances and earned a degree that truly
speaks to your work ethic, your dedication and your
commitment to excellence. I've only had the great
privilege of serving as the Dean of the Merage
school for six months. Yet, I certainly understand
the challenges you've overcome. And more importantly, the
heights that you have achieved. Many of you have earned your degree while working multiple
jobs, raising a family, quarantining under less
than ideal circumstances. You've overcome glitchy Wi-Fi connections, and collectively we've
all become Zoom experts. As the very world before us has changed, despite all the chaos that was created, you made the decision to
continue your education, and the strive towards excellence. Class of 2021, you are the
epitome of perseverance. Your education and newfound knowledge is something that no one will ever be able to take away from you. And certainly today is the commencement, it is the starting point for you to move on to even
bigger and better things. Certainly, I remember with great fondness when I graduated with
my undergraduate degree, nothing on that day
would have ever told me that I would be addressing you today as the Dean of a business school. But certainly I know that
path was started and formed through my educational experience. I know what my education has
done for me and my family. And I can't wait to
see what your education will do for you and yours. Now, no matter where you go, remember the lessons that
this year has taught us. Yes, it has been very traumatic, but as we have coped and as we have dealt with this major health crisis of COVID, suddenly all of us have
learned the value of empathy, flexibility, patience and compassion. I am confident it is those attributes that will enable all us to be successful as we lead organizations, communities and our families going forward. Congratulations on this
fantastic accomplishment. We wish you all the best going forward. And please do make sure you stay in touch with your Merage community. - Hello, class of 2021, UCI Paul Merage School of business graduates. Congratulations, you've arrived. You've done what you set out to do. A virtual commencement is
not what we had hoped for. I can imagine that some
of you have some grief over what this past year and
commencement could have been. And acknowledging that
sadness and sense of loss on the one hand, I
simultaneously hope this year has presented some unique
insight and opportunities. Maybe attending class remotely has allowed family and loved
ones to see up close the effort you've put in to earn this degree. Maybe a recorded message
like this allows you to pause and translate into a parent or
grandparents native language to share this moment even
more than you could have, if it had been live. And maybe not being packed
on the floor of the brand you can sit closer to loved
ones than you would have, and see their eyes shimmering with pride. Let's take this opportunity
that's presented itself. Being together with cap and gown. Take time to thank your loved ones while you celebrate your degree. Bask in the accomplishment, rest, and then get to work doing all the good that you mean to do in our society. You now have more knowledge and skill to make change than before. And we celebrate that future that you'll help to create,
congratulations again. - Congratulations, class of 2021. You are all truly models of
resiliency and innovation. It is an honor to be here
with you and share what I hope you feel are a few words of wisdom from my personal experience. You may be asking yourself, who is she? And why is she our keynote speaker? To be honest, I asked myself
very similar questions when I was invited to speak to you. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I am
a microcosm of all of you. I graduated from the Executive MBA program here at the Paul Merage
School of Business in 2020. Our last quarter was entirely
virtual as a result of COVID. I know we have a mix of undergraduate and graduate students here today. You have done an amazing
job completing your degree during this unprecedented time. A year that has thrown our
lives into a whirlwind, but your education, as many of
you have already experienced is a significant bridge
to new opportunities. Before I go on, I'm gonna
do for you what I do with my medical students, tell you upfront the big takeaways. These are the things
that you need to remember and walk away with. Remember opportunity,
innovation and resiliency. Let's get started. I'd like you to consider how a bridge can be a metaphor for the
limitless opportunities that your Merage degree offers you. I've learned that there
are many bridges in life, bridges that you find,
bridges that you build, bridges that you cross and
bridges that you become. I grew up in South Central Los Angeles, raised by a single mom
who immigrated from Mexico at the age of 16. She worked two, three jobs at a time to send me to a better school so I could go to college. My mom would always tell me, "When I'm gone, I won't leave you money "but I will leave you
something worth a lot more, "something that no one can
ever take away from you, "an education." For me, education has been
the bridge to opportunities that my mother dream for me to have. Now what a bridge? A bridge does many things. And if you think about
the golden gate bridge, it goes over water, it
sways with the wind, but it's sturdy and resilient. My initial bridge took me out
of South Central Los Angeles and into a whole new world college. For some of the undergrads who also came from challenging backgrounds and are the first ones in your family to graduate from college. UCI may be your first bridge. Congratulations on taking that first step and making it across. I would ask all of you to remember to look back and extend a hand to those trying to get
across that first bridge. I continued finding,
building and crossing bridges after finishing my medical
degree, public health degree, and most recently my MBA. I'm privileged that I can look back and see how I, as one
person can make a difference in bridging the practice of
medicine and public health. My bridge brings the
voice of the Latina woman who has personal experience in addressing the many of the challenges that we as a society
are striving to address. As a public health professional, I've developed and promoted
statewide and national programs designed to keep moms and babies healthy. So, when I deliver a baby, and hand them off to the new parents, those programs that I helped develop, can continue touching
the lives of my patients. If you're wondering why I pursued an MBA after already earning an MD and an MPH, the answer is simple, I have realized that my purpose in life is to connect people to their health. I had one more bridge to build. That is to bridge health
with business and technology. This became clear to me
when I saw my teenage son playing online games, and much to my chagrin, sometimes up to several hours at a time. But he wasn't the only
one enjoying online games in my family, so was my 78-year-old mother. She loves candy crush,
and that's when it hit me, bringing together my education,
training and experience, I connected the dots. I knew it occurred to me, that the time spent playing a game can be combined with
learning about your health. My mom has high blood pressure, but to this day, she's not too
sure what the numbers mean. The solution to game up by health. And that's exactly what I did. And now I'm the CEO and
Founder of a company I named Gamify Health. I completed my MBA with an emphasis in entrepreneur and innovation, and used my MBA as the
incubator for my start at that. I could not have asked for more supportive and inspiring environment. The first game we developed
was COVIDBlast.com. The timing was perfect to launch a game that could reinforce behaviors
to avoid getting COVID. The current game we're
developing and finalizing is teen mind games. This game, screens
teenagers for depression, and gets them the help they need. There's so much stigma and
shame associated with depression and getting help is not always easy. Little did I know when we first started developing team mind games, that depression would more than
double during the pandemic. I'm still crossing that
entrepreneur bridge, the bridge that joins personal
health and universal gaming. At times, it feels like
this bridge is made of rope, it's wobbly and standing
up right is difficult. There have been times
that I've almost fallen, but the networks and the support that the Merage School provides
me is pulling me across. I know some of you have
completed your degree without having ever been on campus. I encourage you to continue building your Merage alumni bridge, whether in person or virtually, and reach for the hand and encouragement that will help you cross your bridge. I know you can do it. Each one of you is a model of innovation. You have found ways to adapt. If someone would have told you a year ago, the entire world would be
confined to their homes, and you would be learning virtually, working remotely in steady groups, working from home and your kids would be homeschooling 100% virtually, you would not have believed it. Nobody would have. But that's exactly what you did. Many schools struggled to go virtual. You benefited from the Merage
School promise of leadership in a digitally-driven world. And their early adoption of
remote learning made it happen. When I was a student here, I
was traveling a lot for work and going to professional meetings. I loved the convenience of
attending classes online. Many of us also benefited
from virtual workouts. Peloton became a household name not just a business case
study where we were reviewing to see if they were a high-tech company or an exercise machine. And all of you develop creative ways to network and support each other. One of my personal
favorite virtual networks is the Merage Dean's Leadership circle, the Mirage Alumni Group that I
encourage all of you to join. I participated on a
couple of Zoom gatherings during the heart of the
sheltering in place. We had people from all over the
United States and the world, who were sharing stories and experiences. And it was great. And for a short while, I
forgot we were in a pandemic and under quarantine. Each of you has stories of
how you endured the pandemic, how you found ways to continue your lives and how you coped with
the loss of friends, acquaintances and loved ones. And we will all laugh at the continuous. You are muted (chuckles). We can't hear you. Each of you will have stories to share with the generations that follow. And now, as we see the light
at the end of the tunnel, each of you can say that you survived, and you showed just how resilient you are. The third and final takeaway that has been a huge source
of my success is resiliency. According to the
Merriam-Webster dictionary, resiliency is the ability of something to return to its original size and shape, after being compressed or deformed. Resiliency is needed to
withstand challenges. And in our case, the challenge was COVID. Based on our home, health
and personal experience, the amount of compression and deformation varied from person to person. Many of us lost family members, friends, acquaintances or job. And some of us have been sick ourselves. For me in the early days of the pandemic, it was the uncertainty of
whether or not I would get COVID while working in the hospital
and caring for patients. I was afraid for my family, not for me. I didn't wanna bring the
infection home to them. In the beginning, there was
so much, we didn't know, keeping my family safe
was my biggest priority. It was not always easy though, when we had a shortage of
personal protective equipment. So, we all rose above our
personal pandemic challenges. And you did it in addition
to getting your degree. If you can get through
this, which you did, you can get through anything. You have been stretched and
as a result, you are stronger. Your innovation and resiliency have gotten you to this point. But now what does that lead you? Remember, innovation,
resiliency and opportunities that leverage your
ability to bridge worlds are unexpected and priceless lessons you have earned a long with your degree. You've heard my story. What will your story be? What bridges will you discover or create? There will continue to be
times when you will sway, you will feel like you're
gonna be blown off that bridge. But remember, you are
resilient and innovative and more importantly, not alone. You are a member of the Merage family. Zot Zot Zot. Congratulations, class of 2021. - Hello, everyone, I
would like to first extend a warm welcome to all our
Merage grads, faculty and staff, and to the family and loved
ones here to support us all on this very special day. My name is Edward Lee
pronounced he him his. And as I watched my peers, going into our last quarters here at UCI, and getting ready for our
graduation ceremonies, I can not help but swell with pride and think of all the hard work and good times spent on this journey. Alongside pride, there's another emotion spilling over inside of
me and that's gratitude. I am so grateful for so many things, but right now I am most
grateful for the opportunity to recognize all BA through
the computer and TV screens, the incredible academic
accomplishments of my peers. Please join me in recognizing
the Merage class of 2021. Reflecting back on our college experience. There are four words that
I wanted to share with you. The class of 2021, give,
give, give, and perseverance. Firstly, give yourself credit for what you have accomplished. As a child of immigrants, I was taught to be humble and
timid of my accomplishments. Certainly a valuable trait to have, but one that can often
morph into insecurities and imposter syndrome. But not today. Today, we should recognize everything that we have accomplished and all the challenges we have overcome. It might be the biggest
understatement of the century to say that this academic school year and the proceeding months
have not been the norm, but have been extremely
extremely difficult. Many people in this country are experiencing the
ramifications of COVID-19, powerful nationwide and
international social movements, fighting injustice, jobs
and internships offers being canceled and
complications with universities across the nation shifting
to virtual education. With everything that's going on, we still persevered and have
earned our degrees from UCI. We did that. We grinned the word count
on our yelled dic posts. We've prepped for our
PowerPoint presentations, polished our resumes in management 191w and stayed up until the Merage
courtyard lights went on. Field by now cold $5
cup of coffee from ABP. Come on, give yourself credit
for all that you've done. Next of course is to give thanks, give thanks to everybody
who has believed in you and supported you along this journey. I'd like to give a special thank you to our Merage faculty and staff, the professors, the TAS, the
undergraduate program staff academic advisors, career
office, miracle workers and more, who have worked tirelessly to adapt to the virtual
remote learning format and support our students along the way. Third, I'd like to say, give give back to Merage and to the world. We are blessed with a strong
mind and a gentle education from a prestigious institution like UCI. I believe we owe it to the
world, frankly to change it, become business leaders. And one day get back to Merage and the future generations of
students who will follow us. My last word is perseverance, and it is best explained
through a fun fact. I learned through my time as an undergrad as a campus tour guide. This is the hand sign
of the UCI ant eaters, throwing up a Zot. I like to ask people, visitors, faculty, students and alumni,
what do you think these are? The eyes, the ears they would say? But no, I would smile at them and say, it's the arms raise high and proud. You see when anteater is
threatened by natural predator, it gets up on its hind legs
uses its tail for balance and look straight into
the eyes of the animal, and holds its claws up. Similar, to how we have held
our heads up, high and proud, looking straight into
the face of adversity of this past year and persevere. So with that, I invite you to join me as we present our last
Zots as students of UCI. Ready? Zot Zot Zot. Thank you and best of luck with each of your bright
and brilliant futures. - Ah, I forgot to hit the unmute button. Hey, graduates, (bell rings) ah, sorry about that interruption. (dog barks) Well, I had originally
intended for my video to help remind you of what
an unusual school year this has been. And it seems like that's
exactly what my video has done. It's been a long objective
of the Merage School to help our students not
only to learn the materials we teach you in class, but also to understand how
to be flexible and adaptable, and to deal with challenges
expected and unexpected, that you will encounter in
your careers and in your lives. And you sitting here today
as graduates and now alumni, is a Testament to you
mastering all of these things. With what you have
accomplished over these years, I have great confidence that you're gonna make
it through anything else life throws at you, congratulations. - Hi students, first
of all, congratulations on graduating from the
Merage School of Business. That's an amazing achievement especially given the unfortunate
and difficult circumstances under which you had to finish your degree. Now you may have heard
me in management one, management seven or even
management 101 as a teacher. And I do hope that you learned a lot of useful information and skills from taking these courses. But more importantly,
I hope that my passion for education and learning
spilled over to you, and created a sense of excitement and awe maybe to learn even more and continue to develop your skills. So, good luck to you. I wish you a bright and happy future and hopefully you can contribute to making this world an even better place. So, congratulations again,
stay in touch and good luck. - Hi seniors, it's Courtney Elmes from the undergraduate programs office. On behalf of all of our staff, I wanna say, congratulations,
you've done it. All of your hard work
over the last few years has led up to this moment and I hope you're enjoying
it with your family and loved ones. Please stay in touch
with the Merage School. We can't wait to hear about
all of the great things you will continue to
accomplish as Mirage graduates. - Hi seniors, first off,
I'd like to congratulate you on this incredible accomplishment and let you know how grateful
I am to have gotten to share in the last several years
of your college career. We are so proud of the strength,
perseverance and resilience that you've shown over the last year and know that these characteristics will continue to serve you as you move into your next chapter. Remember that no matter what comes, you are always a part of Merage, and we're here to support you and cheer you on every step of the way. Congratulations again
now go change the world. - Hi seniors, congratulations on such a great accomplishment. It's been a pleasure
working with all of you and getting to know you
all throughout these years. I can't wait what the future holds. It's been a great honor and I wish you all the
best, congratulations. - Hi seniors, it's Blair Fraser from Merage School career services. I just wanted to say
congratulations on your big day and want to take a moment to acknowledge the significant
milestone in your life. We are so excited for you as
you take those first steps on your professional journey. Just know you always have a
home here at the Merage School and we hope to stay in touch. Also now I expect great
things, congratulations. - Hi seniors, congratulations
on finishing your degree at the Paul Merage School of Business. It's been such a privilege and
honor working with all of you as a career advisor,
serving your various needs. And I just can't wait to
hear all the wonderful things that you were up to post-graduation. I hope you'll stay in touch, and Zot Zot Zot. - Hello, graduating class of
2021, and congratulations. You've toughed out a really
difficult COVID year, and I'm sure you're ready to move on. You have worked very hard, and you've done it to prepare yourself to become a future leader
in our new economy. And I think the next 10 years is going to be a very crucial
period of time for you, because that will determine
where are you going to land, who you're going to be and what
is your path to the future? So, it seems to me like
it's very important to ask a question which is, what will the next 10 years be like? Well, let me share my prediction with you. I think there's going to
be stormy, fast changing, and very unpredictable. Lemme try to explain, by way of background, I should say that I chair three
companies (clears throat) within the Merage Investment Group, which we call MIG for short. There's a hedge fund group. There is a private equity group and a real estate investment group. So, my number one job in this multi-billion dollar enterprise, is to figure out what's
coming around the corner. And why is that so important? Is because in a very fast
changing environment, it is so important for
us to stay competitive by being at the very front edge of what is happening out there. And at the very front edge
of any changes in technology that is happening. So, we all know that our economy is going through a major change, is going from the old industrial economy to a new knowledge economy. And during that past 10, 12 years, we know that some huge monster
companies have been created from this new knowledge economy. And some segments in our economy have been almost
devastated, such as retail. What a lot of people are not
really focused on now, though is what the next 10 years is about to be. And I think the next 10
years is going to be a period of change on super steroids. Why is that? I think it's because two really major technological developments, which is artificial intelligence
and quantum computing are going to come together and join the foundation,
the base that is there. And make a huge difference in everything and every aspect of our economy. So, I think by some estimates about a third of the SNP companies today, are not going to exist in 10 years. Think about that. That's huge. Millions of jobs are going to be altered in a significant way or
eliminate it altogether. Some of them may be yours. So, (laughs) I have to stop say, I know what you're thinking. You're saying, well, is this a pause? Is this a message of congratulations or are you just trying to
scare the hell out of us? So, what I am saying is that essentially, yes it is a warning, but I would like for us to concentrate on the opportunities this will present. Please don't forget that every time change destroys the old, it provides opportunities for new, and for opportunities for new businesses. It could be not new opportunities
for new enterprises, from small to very large. And this is the thing to focus on. But you do need to know where to look. So, and I know right now
you're probably ready to check all the books,
all the assignments and say to hell with all of this I'm done and take a breather
and it's quite understandable. But after you get arrest, please do this, roll up your sleeves and start becoming very familiar with every new technology
that is coming along. Keep tabs on all of these developments, ask yourself what will that
mean for my organization, for my company? What will it mean for me? And most importantly, what
opportunities will it represent? This is how you will be a
leader in tomorrow's future and the winners and the losers are going to be the ones who
are proactive versus reactive. Is as simple as that. So, also watch for convergences happen. The one thing that is for
sure is that most of the time what will impact you is not coming at you in a straight line. It is through a zigzag of two or three different
technologies converging and making possible things
that none of them individually could have made possible. So, that's a very important
thing to keep in mind. But allow me to suggest an excellent book, which I read and enjoy. And I think could be a starting
point for you to dig into. Is called "The future is
faster than you think". And is by the author is Peter Diamandis. And Peter is a serial entrepreneur at which is very closely
tied to the various movers and shakers in Silicon Valley. And I think you'll find the
book to be quite interesting. So, I'm going to close
with an old Chinese proverb which I found in a fortune cookie. It says, "Luck is when opportunity
meets preparation." So, I wish you a great deal of luck. Thank you for listening. - And this brings us to a conclusion of our virtual commencement
ceremony this morning. I hope that everyone
has enjoyed the ceremony and that you all have
fun activities planned for the rest of the day. Now that many of us are
vaccinated and are able to gather, I hope that you are able to spend the day with those loved ones that
have provided you with support as you've gone through this degree. Relax, take a day off. Trust me, you've earned it. Now this is not goodbye. It's called a commencement
because it is the commencement of the relationship that you
have with us going forward as an alum of the Merage
School of Business. Certainly we want you to stay connected. We want to celebrate your
accomplishments going forward but also be a support for you as you take on new
challenges in your career. So, on behalf of the faculty and the staff of the Paul
Merage School of Business, congratulations again on
this amazing achievement. Zot Zot Zot.
